Underdog
by 2theSky
Summary: It's been a year since Sugar Rush was reset. And the anniversary holds a shocking surprise for Vanellope that could cause her to disappear from her game, and quite possibly the arcade.


Summary: It's been a year since Sugar Rush was reset. And the anniversary holds a shocking surprise for Vanellope that could cause her to disappear from her game, and quite possibly the arcade.

* * *

**"Early morning take me over. Father, father, father- take me to the top. Early morning wake me up. Father, father father- this is not enough..."**

* * *

One year.

Vanellope couldn't believe it had been a whole year. A year without being bullied, a year without being an outcast, a year without being ignored, a year without being alone.

That didn't mean the year had been perfect. There were still a few racers who refused to look at her or speak to her, but they were getting easier to ignore. Some comments flying around the game, shot from loose-cannon lips and the people Vanellope frequently called "gum-ball brains", still stung. But it was getting easier to move past.

"Another gamer!" one of the selected racers for the day belted out, scrambling to their car. Vanellope grinned, still in a haze from the thought of living a whole year in a world she could only dream of for years; it was still unreal.

As the race began, the gamer picking Taffyta as their choice racer, Vanellope grinned at her former worst nightmare and gripped the steering wheel of her cart hard. It was time for a good race, not time to dwell on the past.

* * *

**"Hey, that sounds like my luck. I get the short end of it. Oh, I love to be, I love to be the underdog..."**

* * *

The final race of the day had ended, almost all too soon for Vanellope. The whole thing had gone by in a blur, a blur of thoughts and questions and winning race after race after race. The look on Taffyta's face, however, as well as several other racers', was noted once or twice as the day sped by.

But it was a great day for Vanellope, and she didn't care.

She started driving back to the castle, her mind yet again sending her back to when her and Ralph had created her kart. Its design was chaotic. Its theme was impossible to decipher in the blur of candy and chocolate as it whirred around the track day after day.

Vanellope smiled, her big chocolatey eyes widening as tears filled them. Happy tears, they were good tears. She stopped her kart and jumped out, standing at the side where she and Ralph had signed it; his name appeared in jumbling letters of pinkish-red, while her's was a flowing blue cursive. Kneeling down, Vanellope ran her hand over their names, grinning. "Thanks, Lard Brain," she mumbled, giggling as a few tears managed to fall.

Ralph could never know just how much this kart meant to her. It was her freedom, a sign of truly moving past everything before. It-

"One full year of this! I can't believe SHE'S leading us now!"

"Wha..." Vanellope hadn't quite made out what was said, but whoever was talking was close.

And they sounded angry.

"She's not fit to lead us! She's just a glitch! And glitches mess things up! She's done it before, and I'm certain..."

Vanellope frowned, only hearing bits and pieces of the furious words flying from God only knew who. She tiptoed towards the speaker, sneaking around the lollipop-dotted hills surrounding the castle. The pink and purple swirls overhead were truly something beautiful to look out at in the morning from her new bedroom, but they offered no real hiding place.

As she got closer, someone else spoke, quieter than their companion, whispering hurriedly, "I know, but she seems nice-"

"Really, Candlehead?!" the first speaker practically shook the ground with their fury-laced roar.

Vanellope jumped, recognizing the first speaker as Taffyta. Taffyta had seemed so nice after the game's reset, though. She had been sorry for her actions...

or had she?

Vanellope's eyes narrowed, wanting to hear the truth. She was sick of getting left out of the loop, and besides, this wasn't eavesdropping... right? "This," she whispered to herself, mainly just moving her lips to convince herself of what she was about to say, "isn't eavesdropping. This is... just... listening in on a... on a subject for presidential reasons and... and stuff. It's perfectly fine. It's..." she smacked her forehead lightly. "Who cares what it is?! Just do it!" She ducked behind a group of trees and strained to hear everything.

"... obviously YOU couldn't see the truth right in front of your face! She's going to mess everything up, get our game unplugged, if she stays in power! And," she paused briefly, doing something Vanellope couldn't see from her position behind the grove of trees, "when she falls, I'll be there to take over."

...what?!

Vanellope was shocked. So Taffyta really didn't like her. She was just trying to act like she was sorry, fool her into thinking they were friends. What if Taffyta was plotting something to get her overthrown? She wasn't an oppressive leader- she was kind and generous, letting anyone who needed to spend a night or two at the castle so they could rest, whether they had their game unplugged or they were just too tired to trek back to Game Central Station and get home. She had her glitching under control.

Candlehead said something, quite loudly, and Vanellope turned her attention back to the conversation just as Candlehead said, "So all this time, you were just kissing up so she's think you actually cared? Then when she looses control, you'll take over our game?"

"Yep. I'm obviously popular among the racers," Taffyta replied slyly, "and everyone jumps when I say 'jump' as it is. I just have to wait a little longer, that way no one will suspect me, and then I'll rule. No more of this stupid president-thing. I want to RULE. And I want this MY WAY."

Vanellope felt a lump forming in her throat. She gulped it down, hoping it was gone. Crying was not something she needed to do right now.

But with her beautiful world crumbling to bits at Taffyta's biting remarks... crying didn't seem like that bad of an idea.

* * *

**"Hey, that sounds like my luck. I get the short end of it. Oh, I love to be, I love to be the underdog..."**

* * *

Taffyta leaned on her racing kart, her blue eyes blazing as she revealed everything to Candlehead. True, Candlehead wasn't the brightest, but she might come in handy in overthrowing Vanellope. Of course, she'd have to trick Candlehead into it, but what was a little manipulation when she was securing the survival of her game?

She took a break from talking, patting her pink kart with a smirk fit to match King Candy's. Candlehead stared at her, biting her lip. "What?" Taffyta spat, angered by the moral battle happening inside her friend. She didn't think Candlehead would have enough brains for morals.

Apparently, she was wrong.

"But what will you do with her if she... if she looses it?" Candlehead asked slowly, her green eyes meeting Taffyta's momentarily, then finding the ground more interesting to look at.

"Lock her up. What else? That's where she should be in the first place- a crazy house! Not ruling us! Not-"

"Great to know you feel that way, Taffyta."

The two racers turned, Taffyta dropping the lollipop she'd just started as Vanellope revealed herself. She really hoped she could explain her way out of this one.

* * *

**"Early evening settle down. Father, father, father- who am I to blame? Early evening hush me over. Father, father, father- are we just the same?"**

* * *

"All this time..." Vanellope looked like she could burst into tears, "you were just pretending?"

Taffyta fumbled for a way out of this. "Um... Vanellope, I can ex-"

"Save it! You were NEVER sorry? For hurting me all that time? For making me feel worthless?! I finally thought maybe, just MAYBE, I was one of you. I belonged, Taffyta! And now, you think I'm going to loose control?!"

"You're a GLITCH," Taffyta snapped, getting in Vanellope's face. "That's all you know how to do! You're just lucky you've lasted as a ruler this long!"

Vanellope shook her head, still holding back the flood of tears waiting to fall. This day had just gone from great to horrible in a matter of minutes. If only Ralph was here... he was probably hanging out with Felix and Sergeant Calhoun; he'd been with them a lot more lately. Maybe he felt the same way...

was everyone turning against her?

Candlehead stared at Vanellope in horror, hoping something wasn't going to happen to her. "I swear, I had nothing to-"

"I know," Vanellope said softly, turning away from them and walking back to her kart, each step heavier than the next. Finally, as she fell into her seat and started driving again, the tears started to fall.

* * *

**"Hey, that sounds like my luck. I get the short end of it. Oh, I love to be, I love to be the underdog. ****Hey, that sounds like my luck. I get the short end of it. Oh, I love to be, I love to be the underdog..."**

* * *

Vanellope didn't even make it to the castle. In fact, as the random roster race was about to begin, her kart was found abandoned halfway up the road to the castle.

And she was nowhere to be found.

A search was immediately started, every racer fanning out to find their leader. Well, all except Taffyta, who just stood by the racetrack, a lollipop stick hanging out of her mouth. Well, it was until one very big weapon of destruction stomped over, his face red with anger. "Where. Is. SHE?!"

An angry Ralph... was not a good Ralph to be around.

Even Taffyta new that.

She cringed away from Ralph, falling into her kart, her head hanging off one side and her feet dangling off the other. Taffyta was shaking; did Ralph know? "I-"

Ralph glared at the puny racer. "I'm only gonna ask is one more time. WHERE IS VANELLOPE?!"

Taffyta glared back for a second, but immediately wilted under Ralph's furious gaze. This was not going to end well. "She..."

* * *

**"Living the low life, living the low life..."**

* * *

No one noticed the racer with candy blasted through her hair, her green sweatshirt soaked in tears, and her footsteps slow and shuffling as they limped through Game Central Station, their head hung low.

Vanellope had trekked through there... two hours ago, trying to stop her mind from replaying the past, the exact moment being when Taffyta and her cronies had ripped her kart apart. Piece by piece it got torn to bits, and then her mind put it back together, just so the memory could restart.

It hurt, more than what Taffyta had said earlier.

"Maybe..." she wasn't sure which game she'd wandered into, but she was too tired and too sad to care, "maybe my game would be better off without me," she sobbed, curling into a ball. What point was there in going on with life if everyone was going to hate her?

She heard the sound of shooting and looked up, shocked to see she was in Hero's Duty. The cybugs were flying everywhere. "Wow..." she stared at one that was flying past. "Those are huge!"

What she didn't notice was the cybug had turned around and was coming right at her. The bug charged, and Vanellope looked up just in time to see it close in, ready to end her misery in the arcade-

* * *

**"Hey, that sounds like my luck. I get the short end of it. Oh, I love to be, I love to be the underdog..."**

* * *

"AHH!" Vanellope screamed, tumbling to the floor in a heap, her massive marshmallow pillow falling on her face and her taffy blanket becoming tangled around her. "Where-" she looked around, yawning and gasping for air at the same time. Her room... why was she back here? Where was a cybug? W-

"Nightmare," she growled, falling back on the floor with a groan as she whacked her head. She remembered now- yesterday had marked one year of her rule in Sugar Rush, of the game's reset. There had been a huge party afterwards, and-

Vanellope sighed, smirking to herself. "That's the last time I eat twenty gummy fish before bed!" she muttered, standing up. "That was one really bad dream."

* * *

**"Hey, that sounds like my luck. I get the short end of it. Oh, I love to be, I love to be the underdog..."**

* * *

_-first Wreck-It Ralph oneshot done! :) _

_sorry for any mistakes :(_

_-title and lyrics from Imagine Dragons "Underdog"_

_have an awesome day, and God bless! :)_


End file.
